Scoreboard



July 4, 1939. A. 1.. MONTGOMERY S COREBOARD Filed June 29 On 0% Q? Q n O 4 On N a.

36% use:

wmouw mxctwg /& 65 -23 nwpmiutk 392m Patented July 4, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved football scoreboard, and has more particular reference to an improved device of this kind primarily adapted to be made of small size for personal use in reg- 5 istering the plays and the results of such plays during the progress of a football game, as seen or as reported by radio or the like.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a simple scoreboard of the above kind which is convenient to use, economical to manufacture, and adapted for unlimited repeated use.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a scoreboard of the above kind having different indicating devices thereon which are of a character and so arranged that the exact status of a game can be readily ascertained at any time, and so constructed that particular care need not be exercised to prevent accidental disturbance of said indicating or registering devices in using the 20 scoreboard.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a scoreboard of the above kind on which the line-up of each team and/or the movements of the football during the progress of the game 25 may be readily displayed or indicated by the use of a pencil, but from which the written line-ups or pencil indications of the movements of the football may be readily removed without mutilation or destruction of the scoreboard, so as to 30 permit unlimited repeated use of the scoreboard in registering and displaying the plays and results of plays of successive games which may be viewed by the user of the scoreboard or the reports of which such user may receive by radio or the 35 like.

With the above-general objects in view, the present invention consists in the novel form, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accom- 40 panying drawing and claimed.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a scoreboard, partly broken away, embodying the present invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary section on line 2-2 45 of Figure l; and

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view looking at the under side of the outer portion of the indicating hand employed in connection with each indicator forming part of the 50 scoreboard shown in Figure 1.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the present scoreboard includes a board member including a suitable sheet of material 5 on the lower major central portion of which is printed or otherwise 5 suitably and permanently represented a football .the line-up of the respective teams.

field 5 with the opposite goals i and the transversed numbered lines 8 indicating the distance of the respective lines from said opposite goals. The sheet 5 is of suitable material, such as paper or Celluloid, and may be adhesively secured to a suitable stilf backing member 9 of stiff cardboard or wood. The position of the ball on the field 6 may be visually indicated in a suitable manner. For instance, if the sheet 5 is of paper, an object representing a football may be placed upon and 10 moved along the field 6. However, the sheet 5 is preferably made of Celluloid so that the position of the football on the field 6 may be visually indicated by pencil, the indication of the previous position of the ball being readily removed by erasing the same. Obviously, when the sheet 5 is made of Celluloid, this can be done easily and repeatedly Without mutilation or destruction of the sheet 5 and without marring the representation of the football field whose lines may be printed or otherwise provided in or on the Celluloid material so as to be unaffected by a pencil eraser.

Provision is made at the lower corners of the scoreboard or at each end of the football field representation, as indicated at it, for indicating This provision is such that the line-up indications for a particular game may be readily removed from the sheet 5 and a clean space presented for receiving the line-ups of the respective teams in another subsequent game being scored on the present device. If the sheet 5 is made of paper, the line-up indicating provisions Ill may consist of tear-off pads suitably secured on the board at the points indicated, the immediate line-ups being written on the uppermost sheets of the pads and then removed at the end of the game so as to present the next lower clean sheet for future use. However, when the sheet 5 is made of Celluloid, as preferred, the provisions It may consist of rectangular spaces defined by lines permanently printed or otherwise provided directly in or on such Celluloid sheet, and each having a suitable heading such as Line up. In the latter event, the names of the players of each team may be written in pencil in one of these rectangular spaces, after which the names may be conveniently erased to permit use of the board in connection with another subsequent game, the erasure of the names having no marring or mutilating effect on the sheet 5 or the lines defining the rectangular line-up spaces.

Printed above the central portion of the field representation 6 is a suitable disk dial ll having the numbers 1 to 4 inclusive progressively arranged at the margin thereof in circular and equally spaced formation to indicate the respective quarters of a football game. This dial forms part of a device for indicating the particular quarter of a game being played, which device also includes a movable indicating element consisting of a centrally pivoted disk l2 rotatably mounted at the central portion of the dial II and having a quarter segment thereof removed as indicated at 13, as well as having a projecting pointer 54 coincident with one side of the notch formed by the removed segment. In this way, a clear indication is given of the particular quarter being played, the pointer M being alined With the particular numeral indicating such quarter while the segmental cut-out of the indicator disk l2 is disposed to coincide with the space of the disk ll between adjacent numerals of the latter corresponding to the quarter indicated by the hand M.

On each side of the quarter indicator abovedescribed, there is provided a series of indicators for indicating the plays attempted by the team whose line-up is placed at that side, as well as the results of such plays or occurrences which may take place in attempting the execution thereof. For instance, an indicator I5 is provided for registering the first downs of each team; another indicator I6 is provided for indicating the fumbles made by each team; another indicator I! is provided for indicating the passes attempted by each team; another indicator I 8 is provided to indicate the yards which each team has been penalized; another indicator I9 is provided to indicate the passes completed by each team; and still another indicator 20 is provided to indicate the yards gained by each team. A final indicator 2| is provided to indicate the score of each team, and each of these indicators, as well as the quarter indicator has the pivoted indicating hand thereof provided on the under side of its outer or free end with a friction pad 22 engaging the upper surface of the sheet 5 so as to effectively frictionally resist accidental rotation of such hand and thereby maintain it in any adjusted position unless manually shifted.

This friction pad may consist of a small piece or sheet of rubber, felt, or the like, and by providing it on the outer or free end portion of each indicator hand, accidental movement of such hand is most effectively prevented. Obviously, much greater frictional resistance would be necessary if provided at the inner or pivoted end of the indicating hand, because the friction might be overcome readily due to leverage afforded by application of moving force to the outer end of the indicating hand. As the indicating hand of each indicator is of essentially similar character, the indicating hands of all of the indicators are generally indicated by the same reference numeral, and likewise with respect to the friction pads 22 of the several indicating hands.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that I have provided an extremely simple football scoreboard particularly adapted for personal use, as well as repeated use in scoring football games. It will also be seen that the device is compact, durable and inexpensive, as well as convenient to use and efficient in scoring a game as well as showing at a glance the status of a game at any time.

What I claim as new is:

1. In a scoreboard for indicating the progress of a football game, an indicator for designating any one of a number of fixed periods in the game, said indicator comprising a stationary dial and a rotatable indicator including a disk having a quarter-segmental portion thereof removed to provide a notch and provided with a radially projecting pointer at one side of the notch formed 7 I by said removed quater-segmental portion, said dial having indicating numerals around the margin thereof outwardly of said disk and spaced apart a distance equal to the width of said notch at the outer edge of said disk.

2. In a scoreboard for indicating the progress 

